Oracle® Fusion Applications Order Orchestration Implementation Guide 11g Release 5 (11.1.5) Part Number E20386-05

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4 Define Enterprise Structures for Order Orchestration

This chapter contains the following:

Enterprise Structures: Overview

Enterprise Structures Business Process Model: Explained

Global Enterprise Configuration: Points to Consider

Modeling Your Enterprise Management Structure in Oracle Fusion: Example

Define Initial Configuration

Define Reference Data Sharing

Define Geographies

Define Enterprise for Order Orchestration: Manage Enterprise HCM Information

Define Enterprise for Order Orchestration: Manage Locations

Define Business Units: Manage Business Units

Define Facilities for Order Orchestration

Enterprise Structures: Overview

Oracle Fusion Applications have been designed to ensure your enterprise can be modeled to meet legal and management objectives. The decisions about your implementation of Oracle Fusion Applications are affected by your:

• Industry

• Business unit requirements for autonomy

• Business and accounting policies

• Business functions performed by business units and optionally, centralized in shared service centers

• Locations of facilities

Every enterprise has three fundamental structures, legal, managerial, and functional, that are used to describe its operations and provide a basis for reporting. In Oracle Fusion, these structures are implemented using the chart of accounts and organizations. Although many alternative hierarchies can be implemented and used for reporting, you are likely to have one primary structure that organizes your business into divisions, business units, and departments aligned by your strategic objectives.

Legal Structure

The figure above shows a typical group of legal entities, operating various business and functional organizations. Your ability to buy and sell, own, and employ comes from your charter in the legal system. A corporation is a distinct legal entity from its owners and managers. The corporation is owned by its shareholders, who may be individuals or other corporations. There are many other kinds of legal entities, such as sole proprietorships, partnerships, and government agencies.

A legally recognized entity can own and trade assets and employ people in the jurisdiction in which it is registered. When granted these privileges, legal entities are also assigned responsibilities to:

• Account for themselves to the public through statutory and external reporting

• Comply with legislation and regulations

• Pay income and transaction taxes

• Process value added tax (VAT) collection on behalf of the taxing authority

Many large enterprises isolate risk and optimize taxes by incorporating subsidiaries. They create legal entities to facilitate legal compliance, segregate operations, optimize taxes, complete contractual relationships, and isolate risk. Enterprises use legal entities to establish their enterprise's identity under the laws of each country in which their enterprise operates.

In the figure above, a separate card represents a series of registered companies. Each company, including the public holding company, InFusion America, must be registered in the countries where they do business. Each company consists of various divisions created for purposes of management reporting. These are shown as vertical columns on each card. For example, a group might have a separate company for each business in the United States (US), but have their United Kingdom (UK) legal entity represent all businesses in that country. The divisions are linked across the cards so that a business can appear on some or all of the cards. For example, the air quality monitoring systems business might be operated by the US, UK, and France companies. The list of business divisions is on the Business Axis. Each company's card is also horizontally striped by functional groups, such as the sales team and the finance team. This functional list is called the Functional Axis. The overall image suggests that information might, at a minimum, be tracked by company, business, division, and function in a group environment. In Oracle Fusion Applications, the legal structure is implemented using legal entities.

Management Structure

Successfully managing multiple businesses requires that you segregate them by their strategic objectives, and measure their results. Although related to your legal structure, the business organizational hierarchies do not need to be reflected directly in the legal structure of the enterprise. The management structure can include divisions, subdivisions, lines of business, strategic business units, and cost centers. In the figure above, the management structure is shown on the Business Axis. In Oracle Fusion Applications, the management structure is implemented using divisions and business units.

Functional Structure

Straddling the legal and business organizations is a functional organization structured around people and their competencies. For example, sales, manufacturing, and service teams are functional organizations. This functional structure is represented by the Functional Axis in the figure above. You reflect the efforts and expenses of your functional organizations directly on the income statement. Organizations must manage and report revenues, cost of sales, and functional expenses such as research and development (R&D) and selling, general, and administrative (SG&A) expenses. In Oracle Fusion Applications, the functional structure is implemented using departments and organizations, including sales, marketing, project, cost, and inventory organizations.

Enterprise Structures Business Process Model: Explained

In Oracle Fusion Applications, the Enterprise Performance and Planning Business Process Model illustrates the major implementation tasks that you perform to create your enterprise structures. This process model includes the Set Up Enterprise Structures business process, which consist of implementation activities that span many product families. Information Technology is a second Business Process Model which contains the Set Up Information Technology Management business process. Define Reference Data Sharing is one of the activities in this business process and is important in the implementation of the enterprise structures. This activity creates the mechanism to share reference data sets across multiple ledgers, business units, and warehouses, reducing the administrative burden and decreasing the time needed to implement.

The following figure and chart describes the Business Process Model structures and activities.

Global Enterprise Configuration: Points to Consider

Start your global enterprise structure configuration by discussing what your organization's reporting needs are and how to represent those needs in the Oracle Fusion Applications. Consider deployment on a single instance, or at least, on as few instances as possible, to simplify reporting and consolidations for your global enterprises. The following are some questions and points to consider as you design your global enterprise structure in Oracle Fusion.

• Enterprise Configuration

• Business Unit Management

• Security Structure

• Compliance Requirements

Enterprise Configuration

What is the level of configuration needed to achieve the reporting and accounting requirements? What components of your enterprise do you need to report on separately? Which components can be represented by building a hierarchy of values to provide reporting at both detail and summary levels? Where are you on the spectrum of centralization versus decentralization?

Business Unit Management

What reporting do I need by business unit? How can you set up your departments or business unit accounts to achieve departmental hierarchies that report accurately on your lines of business? What reporting do you need to support the managers of your business units, and the executives who measure them? How often are business unit results aggregated? What level of reporting detail is required across business units?

Security Structure

What level of security and access is allowed? Are business unit managers and the people that report to them secured to transactions within their own business unit? Are the transactions for their business unit largely performed by a corporate department or shared service center?

Compliance Requirements

How do you comply with your corporate external reporting requirements and local statutory reporting requirements? Do you tend to prefer a corporate first or an autonomous local approach? Where are you on a spectrum of centralization, very centralized or decentralized?

Modeling Your Enterprise Management Structure in Oracle Fusion: Example

This example uses a fictitious global company to demonstrate the analysis that can occur during the enterprise structure configuration planning process.

Scenario

Your company, InFusion Corporation, is a multinational conglomerate that operates in the United States (US) and the United Kingdom (UK). InFusion has purchased an Oracle Fusion enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution including Oracle Fusion General Ledger and all of the Oracle Fusion subledgers. You are chairing a committee to discuss creation of a model for your global enterprise structure including both your US and UK operations.

InFusion Corporation

InFusion Corporation has 400 plus employees and revenue of $120 million. Your product line includes all the components to build and maintain air quality monitoring (AQM) systems for homes and businesses. You have two distribution centers and three warehouses that share a common item master in the US and UK. Your financial services organization provides funding to your customers for the start up costs of these systems.

Analysis

The following are elements you need to consider in creating your model for your global enterprise structure.

• Your company is required to report using US Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) standards and UK Statements of Standard Accounting Practice and Financial Reporting Standards. How many ledgers do you need to achieve proper statutory reporting?

• Your managers need reports that show profit and loss (revenue and expenses) for their lines of business. Do you use business units and balancing segments to represent your divisions and businesses? Do you secure data by two segments in your chart of accounts which represents each department and legal entity or one segment that represents both to produce useful, but confidential management reports?

• Your corporate management requires reports showing total organizational performance with drill down capability to the supporting details. Do you need multiple balancing segment hierarchies to achieve proper rollup of balances for reporting requirements?

• Your company has all administrative, account payables, procurement, and human resources functions performed at their corporate headquarters. Do you need one or more business unit in which to perform all these functions? How will your shared service center be configured?

Global Enterprise Structure Model

The following figure and table summarize the model that your committee has designed and uses numerical values to provide a sample representation of your structure. The model includes the following recommendations:

• Creation of three separate ledgers representing your separate legal entities:

  • InFusion America Inc.

  • InFusion Financial Services Inc.

  • InFusion UK Services Ltd.

• Consolidation of results for system components, installations, and maintenance product lines across the enterprise

• All UK general and administrative costs processed at the UK headquarters

• US Systems' general and administrative costs processed at US Corporate headquarters

• US Financial Services maintains its own payables and receivables departments

In this chart, the green globe stands for mandatory and gold globe stands for optional setup. The following statements expand on the data in the chart.

• The enterprise is mandatory because it serves as an umbrella for the entire implementation. All organizations are created within an enterprise.

• Legal entities are also mandatory. They can be optionally mapped to balancing segment values or represented by ledgers. Mapping balancing segment values to legal entities is mandatory if you plan to use the intercompany functionality.

• At least one ledger is mandatory in an implementation in which you record your accounting transactions.

• Business units are also mandatory because financial transactions are processed in business units.

• A shared service center is optional, but if used, must be a business unit.

• Divisions are optional and can be represented with a hierarchy of cost centers or by a second balancing segment value.

• Departments are mandatory because they track your employees.

• Optionally, add an item master organization and inventory organizations if you are tracking your inventory transactions in Oracle Fusion Applications.

Define Initial Configuration

Establishing Enterprise Structures Using the Enterprise Structures Configurator: Explained

The Enterprise Structures Configurator is an interview-based tool that guides you through the process of setting up a basic enterprise structure. By answering questions about your enterprise, the tool creates a structure of divisions, legal entities, business units, and reference data sets that reflects your enterprise structure. After you create your enterprise structure, you also follow a guided process to determine whether or not to use positions, and whether to set up additional attributes for jobs and positions. After you define your enterprise structure and your job and position structures, you can review them, make any necessary changes, and then load the final configuration.

This figure illustrates the process to configure your enterprise using the Enterprise Structures Configurator.

To be able to use the Enterprise Structures Configurator, you must select the Enterprise Structures Guided Flow feature for your offerings on the Configure Offerings page in the Setup and Maintenance work area. If you do not select this feature, then you must set up your enterprise structure using individual tasks provided elsewhere in the offerings, and you cannot create multiple configurations to compare different scenarios.

Establish Enterprise Structures

To define your enterprise structures, you use the guided flow within the Establish Enterprise Structures task to enter basic information about your enterprise, such as the primary industry and the location of your headquarters. You then create divisions, legal entities, business units, and reference data sets. The Establish Enterprise Structures task enables you to create multiple enterprise configurations so that you can compare different scenarios. Until you load a configuration, you can continue to create and edit multiple configurations until you arrive at one that best suits your enterprise.

Establish Job and Position Structures

You also use a guided process to determine whether you want to use jobs only, or jobs and positions. The primary industry that you select in the Establish Enterprise Structures task provides the application with the information needed to make an initial recommendation. You can either accept the recommendation, or you can answer additional questions about how you manage people in your enterprise, and then make a selection. After you select whether to use jobs or positions, the guided process prompts you to set up a descriptive flexfield structure for jobs, and for positions if you have chosen to use them. Descriptive flexfields enable you to capture additional information when you create jobs and positions.

Review Configuration

Finally, you can review a summary of the results of the two interview processes. For each configuration, the online summary lists the divisions, legal entities, business units, reference data sets, and job and position structures that the application will create when you load the configuration.

For a more detailed analysis of a configuration, you can access the Technical Summary Report. This report lists the same information as the online summary, but also lists the following information that will be created by the application when you load the configuration, based on your configuration:

• Legislative data groups (the application creates one legislative data group for each country that is identified in the configuration.)

• Name of the legislative data group that will be assigned to the payroll statutory unit that is generated for each legal entity.

• Organization hierarchy.

The Technical Summary report also lists the default settings that will be loaded for these fields, which you access from the Manage Enterprise HCM Information task: Worker Number Generation, Employment Model and Allow Employment Terms Override. You can print the Technical Summary Report for each of your configurations and compare each scenario.

Load Configuration

You can load only one configuration. When you load a configuration, the application creates the divisions, legal entities, business units, and so on. After you load the configuration, you then use individual tasks to edit, add, and delete enterprise structures.

Designing an Enterprise Configuration: Example

This example illustrates how to set up an enterprise based on a global company operating mainly in the US and the UK with a single primary industry.

Scenario

InFusion Corporation is a multinational enterprise in the high technology industry with product lines that include all the components that are required to build and maintain air quality monitoring (AQM) systems for homes and businesses. Its primary locations are in the US and the UK, but it has smaller outlets in France, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Enterprise Details

In the US, InFusion employs 400 people and has a company revenue of $120 million. Outside the US, InFusion employs 200 people and has revenue of $60 million.

Analysis

InFusion requires three divisions. The US division will cover the US locations. The Europe division will cover the UK and France. Saudi Arabia and the UAE will be covered by the Middle East division.

InFusion requires legal entities with legal employers, payroll statutory units, tax reporting units, and legislative data groups for the US, UK, France, Saudi Arabia, and UAE, in order to employ and pay its workers in those countries.

InFusion requires a number of departments across the enterprise for each area of business, such as sales and marketing, and a number of cost centers to track and report on the costs of those departments.

InFusion requires business units for human capital management (HCM) purposes. Infusion has general managers responsible for business units within each country. Those business units may share reference data. Some reference data can be defined within a reference data set that multiple business units may subscribe to. Business units are also required for financial purposes. Financial transactions are always processed within a business unit.

Resulting Enterprise Configuration

Based on this analysis, InFusion requires an enterprise with multiple divisions, ledgers, legal employers, payroll statutory units, tax reporting units, legislative data groups, departments, cost centers, and business units.

This figure illustrates the enterprise configuration that results from the analysis of InFusion Corporation.

Division: Explained

Managing multiple businesses requires that you segregate them by their strategic objectives and measure their results. Responsibility to reach objectives can be delegated along the management structure. Although related to your legal structure, the business organizational hierarchies do not need to reflect directly the legal structure of the enterprise. The management entities and structure can include divisions and subdivisions, lines of business, and other strategic business units, and include their own revenue and cost centers. These organizations can be included in many alternative hierarchies and used for reporting, as long as they have representation in the chart of accounts.

Divisions

A division refers to a business oriented subdivision within an enterprise, in which each division organizes itself differently to deliver products and services or address different markets. A division can operate in one or more countries, and can be comprised of many companies or parts of different companies that are represented by business units.

A division is a profit center or grouping of profit and cost centers, where the division manager is responsible for attaining business goals including profit goals. A division can be responsible for a share of the company's existing product lines or for a separate business. Managers of divisions may also have return on investment goals requiring tracking of the assets and liabilities of the division. The division manager reports to a top corporate executive.

By definition a division can be represented in the chart of accounts. Companies may choose to represent product lines, brands, or geographies as their divisions: their choice represents the primary organizing principle of the enterprise. This may coincide with the management segment used in segment reporting.

Oracle Fusion Applications supports a qualified management segment and recommends that you use this segment to represent your hierarchy of business units and divisions. If managers of divisions have return on investment goals, make the management segment a balancing segment. Oracle Fusion applications allows up to three balancing segments. The values of the management segment can be comprised of business units that roll up in a hierarchy to report by division.

Historically, divisions were implemented as a node in a hierarchy of segment values. For example, Oracle E-Business Suite has only one balancing segment, and often the division and legal entity are combined into a single segment where each value stands for both division and legal entity.

Use of Divisions in Oracle Fusion Human Capital Management (HCM)

Divisions are used in HCM to define the management organization hierarchy, using the generic organization hierarchy. This hierarchy can be used to create organization based security profiles.

Legal Entities: Explained

A legal entity is a recognized party with rights and responsibilities given by legislation.

Legal entities have the right to own property, the right to trade, the responsibility to repay debt, and the responsibility to account for themselves to regulators, taxation authorities, and owners according to rules specified in the relevant legislation. Their rights and responsibilities may be enforced through the judicial system. Define a legal entity for each registered company or other entity recognized in law for which you want to record assets, liabilities, expenses and income, pay transaction taxes, or perform intercompany trading.

A legal entity has responsibility for elements of your enterprise for the following reasons:

• Facilitating local compliance

• Taking advantage of lower corporation taxation in some jurisdictions

• Preparing for acquisitions or disposals of parts of the enterprise

• Isolating one area of the business from risks in another area. For example, your enterprise develops property and also leases properties. You could operate the property development business as a separate legal entity to limit risk to your leasing business.

The Role of Your Legal Entities

In configuring your enterprise structure in Oracle Fusion Applications, you need to understand that the contracting party on any transaction is always the legal entity. Individual legal entities own the assets of the enterprise, record sales and pay taxes on those sales, make purchases and incur expenses, and perform other transactions.

Legal entities must comply with the regulations of jurisdictions, in which they register. Europe now allows for companies to register in one member country and do business in all member countries, and the US allows for companies to register in one state and do business in all states. To support local reporting requirements, legal reporting units are created and registered.

You are required to publish specific and periodic disclosures of your legal entities' operations based on different jurisdictions' requirements. Certain annual or more frequent accounting reports are referred to as statutory or external reporting. These reports must be filed with specified national and regulatory authorities. For example, in the United States (US), your publicly owned entities (corporations) are required to file quarterly and annual reports, as well as other periodic reports, with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), who enforces statutory reporting requirements for public corporations.

Individual entities privately held or held by public companies do not have to file separately. In other countries, your individual entities do have to file in their own name, as well as at the public group level. Disclosure requirements are diverse. For example, your local entities may have to file locally to comply with local regulations in a local currency, as well as being included in your enterprise's reporting requirements in different currency.

A legal entity can represent all or part of your enterprise's management framework. For example, if you operate in a large country such as the United Kingdom or Germany, you might incorporate each division in the country as a separate legal entity. In a smaller country, for example Austria, you might use a single legal entity to host all of your business operations across divisions.

Creating Legal Entities in the Enterprise Structures Configurator: Points to Consider

Using the Enterprise Structures Configurator (ESC), you can create legal entities for your enterprise automatically, based on the countries in which divisions of your business operate, or you can upload a list of legal entities from a spreadsheet.

Automatically Creating Legal Entities

If you are not certain of the number of legal entities that you need, you can create them automatically. To use this option, you first identify all of the countries in which your enterprise operates. The application opens the Map Divisions by Country page, which contains a matrix of the countries that you identified, your enterprise, and the divisions that you created. You select the check boxes where your enterprise and divisions intersect with the countries to identify the legal entities that you want the application to create. The enterprise is included for situations where your enterprise operates in a country and acts on behalf of several divisions within the enterprise and is a legal employer in a country. If you select the enterprise for a country, the application creates a country holding company.

The application automatically creates the legal entities that you select, and identifies them as payroll statutory units and legal employers. For each country that you indicated that your enterprise operates in, and for each country that you created a location for, the application also automatically creates a legislative data group.

Any legal entities that you create automatically cannot be deleted from the Create Legal Entities page within the Enterprise Structures Configurator. You must return to the Map Divisions by Country page and deselect the legal entities that you no longer want.

Example: Creating Legal Entities Automatically

InFusion Corporation is using the ESC to set up their enterprise structure. They have identified two divisions, one for Lighting, and one for Security. The Lighting division operates in Japan and the US, and the Security division operates in the UK and India.

This figure illustrates InFusion Corporation's enterprise structure.

This table represents the selections that InFusion Corporation makes when specifying which legal entities to create on the Map Divisions by Country page.

Based on the selections made in the preceding table, the ESC creates the following four legal entities:

• InFusion Lighting Japan LE

• InFusion Lighting US LE

• InFusion Security UK LE

• InFusion Security India LE

Creating Legal Entities Using a Spreadsheet

If you have a list of legal entities already defined for your enterprise, you can upload them from a spreadsheet. To use this option, you first download a spreadsheet template, then add your legal entity information to the spreadsheet, and then upload directly to your enterprise configuration. You can export and import the spreadsheet multiple times to accommodate revisions.

Business Units: Explained

A business unit is a unit of an enterprise that performs one or many business functions that can be rolled up in a management hierarchy. A business unit can process transactions on behalf of many legal entities. Normally, it will have a manager, strategic objectives, a level of autonomy, and responsibility for its profit and loss. Roll business units up into divisions if you structure your chart of accounts with this type of hierarchy. In Oracle Fusion Applications, you assign your business units to one primary ledger. For example, if a business unit is processing payables invoices they will need to post to a particular ledger. This assignment is mandatory for your business units with business functions that produce financial transactions.

In Oracle Fusion Applications, use business unit as a securing mechanism for transactions. For example, if you run your export business separately from your domestic sales business, secure the export business data to prevent access by the domestic sales employees. To accomplish this security, set up the export business and domestic sales business as two separate business units.

The Oracle Fusion Applications business unit model:

• Allows for flexible implementation

• Provides a consistent entity for controlling and reporting on transactions

• Anchors the sharing of sets of reference data across applications

Business units process transactions using reference data sets that reflect your business rules and policies and can differ from country to country. With Oracle Fusion Application functionality, you can choose to share reference data, such as payment terms and transaction types, across business units, or you can choose to have each business unit manage its own set depending on the level at which you wish to enforce common policies.

In countries where gapless and chronological sequencing of documents is required for subledger transactions, define your business units in alignment with your ledger definition, because the uniqueness of sequencing is only ensured within a ledger. In these cases, define a single ledger and assign one legal entity and business unit.

In summary, use business units in the following ways:

• Management reporting

• Processing of transactions

• Security of transactional data

• Reference data definition and sharing

Brief Overview of Business Unit Security

Business units are used by a number of Oracle Fusion Applications to implement data security. You assign data roles to your users to give them access to data in business units and permit them to perform specific functions on this data. When a business function is enabled for a business unit, the application can trigger the creation of data roles for this business unit based on the business function's related job roles.

For example, if a payables invoicing business function is enabled, then it is clear that there are employees in this business unit that perform the function of payables invoicing, and need access to the payables invoicing functionality. Therefore, based on the correspondence between the business function and the job roles, appropriate data roles are generated automatically. Use Human Capital Management (HCM) security profiles to administer security for employees in business units.

Creating Business Units in the Enterprise Structures Configurator: Points to Consider

Business units are used within Oracle Fusion applications for management reporting, processing of transactions, and security of transactional data. Using the Enterprise Structures Configurator (ESC), you create business units for your enterprise either automatically or manually.

Automatically Creating Business Units

To create business units automatically, you must specify the level at which to create business units. Business units within your enterprise may be represented at the business function level, such as Sales, Consulting, Product Development, and so on, or they may be represented at a more detailed level, where a business unit exists for each combination of countries in which you operate and the functions in those countries.

You can automatically create business units at the following levels:

• Country

• Country and Division

• Country and business function

• Division

• Division and legal entity

• Division and business function

• Business function

• Legal entity

• Business function and legal entity

Select the option that best meets your business requirements, but consider the following:

• If you use Oracle Fusion Financials, the legal entity option is recommended because of the manner in which financial transactions are processed.

• The business unit level that you select determines how the application automatically creates reference data sets.

After you select a business unit level, the application generates a list of business units, and you select the ones you want the application to create. If you select a level that has two components, such as country and division, then the system displays a table listing both components, and you select the check boxes at the intersections of the components.

The business units listed by the application are suggestions only, and are meant to simplify the process to create business units. You are not required to select all of the business units suggested. When you navigate to the next page in the ESC guided flow, which is the Manage Business Units page, you cannot delete any of the business units that were created automatically. You must return to the Create Business Units page and deselect any business units that you no longer want.

Example: Selecting Business Unit Levels

InFusion Corporation is using the Enterprise Structures Configurator to set up their enterprise structure. They have identified two divisions, one for Lighting, and one for Security. They operate in four countries: US, UK, Japan, and India, and they have created a legal entity for each of the countries. The sales and marketing functions are based in both India and Japan, while the US and the UK have only the sales function.

This figure illustrates InFusion Corporation's enterprise structure.

The following table lists the options for business unit levels and the resulting business units that the application suggests for InFusion Corporation.

Manually Creating Business Units

If none of the levels for creating business units meets your business needs, you can create business units manually, and you create them on the Manage Business Units page. If you create business units manually, then no reference data sets are created automatically. You must create them manually as well.

Reference Data Sets and Sharing Methods: Explained

Oracle Fusion Applications reference data sharing feature is also known as SetID. The reference data sharing functionality supports operations in multiple ledgers, business units, and warehouses, thereby reducing the administrative burden and decreasing the time needed to implement new business units. For example, you can share sales methods, transaction types, or payment terms across business units or selected other data across asset books, cost organizations, or project units.

The reference data sharing features use reference data sets to which reference data is assigned. The reference data sets group assigned reference data. The sets can be understood as buckets of reference data assigned to multiple business units or other application components.

Reference Data Sets

You begin this part of your implementation by creating and assigning reference data to sets. Make changes carefully as changes to a particular set will affect all business units or application components using that set. You can assign a separate set to each business unit for the type of object that is being shared. For example, assign separate sets for payment terms, transaction types, and sales methods to your business units.

Your enterprise can decide that some aspects of corporate policy should affect all business units and leave other aspects to the discretion of the business unit manager. This allows your enterprise to balance autonomy and control for each business unit. For example, if your enterprise holds business unit managers accountable for their profit and loss, but manages working capital requirements at a corporate level, you can let managers define their own sales methods, but define payment terms centrally. In this case, each business unit would have its own reference data set for sales methods, and there would be one central reference data set for payment terms assigned to all business units.

The reference data sharing is especially valuable for lowering the cost of setting up new business units. For example, your enterprise operates in the hospitality industry. You are adding a new business unit to track your new spa services. The hospitality divisional reference data set can be assigned to the new business unit to quickly setup data for this entity component. You can establish other business unit reference data in a business unit specific reference data set as needed

Reference Data Sharing Methods

There are variations in the methods used to share data in reference data sets across different types of objects. The following list identifies the methods:

• Assignment to one set only, no common values allowed. The simplest form of sharing reference data that allows assigning a reference data object instance to one and only one set. For example, Asset Prorate Conventions are defined and assigned to only one reference data set. This set can be shared across multiple asset books, but all the values are contained only in this one set.

• Assignment to one set only, with common values. The most commonly used method of sharing reference data that allows defining reference data object instance across all sets. For example, Receivables Transaction Types are assigned to a common set that is available to all the business units without the need to be explicitly assigned the transaction types to each business unit. In addition, you can assign a business unit specific set of transaction types. At transaction entry, the list of values for transaction types includes transaction types from the set assigned to the business unit, as well as transaction types assigned to the common set that is shared across all business units.

• Assignment to multiple sets, no common values allowed. The method of sharing reference data that allows a reference data object instance to be assigned to multiple sets. For instance, Payables Payment Terms use this method. It means that each payment term can be assigned to one or more than one set. For example, you assign the payment term Net 30 to several sets, but the payment term Net 15 is assigned to only your corporate business unit specific set. At transaction entry, the list of values for payment terms consists of only one set of data; the set that is assigned to the transaction's business unit.

Note: Oracle Fusion Applications contains a reference data set called Enterprise. Define any reference data that affects your entire enterprise in this set.

Jobs and Positions: Critical Choices

Jobs and positions represent roles that enable you to distinguish between tasks and the individuals who perform those tasks. The key to whether to use jobs or positions is how each is used. Positions offer a well-defined space independent of the person performing the job. Jobs are a space defined by the person. A job can be defined globally in the Common Set, whereas a position is defined within one business unit.

You can update the job and department of a position at any time. This is useful if you hire someone into a new role and want to transfer the position to another department.

During implementation, one of the earliest decisions you will make is whether to use jobs or a combination of jobs and positions. The determinants for this decision are:

• The primary industry of your enterprise

• How you manage your people

Primary Industry of Your Enterprise

Primary industries and how they usually set up their workforce are listed in the table below.

Management of People

The following table displays suggestions of whether to use jobs or a combination of jobs and positions based on your industry and how you manage your employees when there is turnover.

Positions: Examples

Positions are typically used by industries that use detailed approval rules, which perform detailed budgeting and maintain head counts, or have high turnover rates.

Retail Industry

ABC Corporation has high turnover. It loses approximately 5% of their cashiers monthly. The job of cashier includes three positions: front line cashier, service desk cashier, and layaway cashier. Each job is cross trained to take over another cashier position. When one cashier leaves from any of the positions, another existing cashier from the front line, service desk or layaway can assist where needed. . But to ensure short lines and customer satisfaction, ABC must replace each cashier lost to turnover.

Since turnover is high in retail it is better for this industry to use positions. There is an automatic vacancy when an employee terminates employment. The position exists even when there are no holders. This is important if the person who leaves the company is a manager or supervisor with direct reports. All direct reports continue reporting to the position even if it is empty. You do not need to reassign these employees to another manager or supervisor; the replacement manager is assigned to the existing position.

Also, an advantage to using positions is that when you hire somebody new many of the attributes are defaulted in from the position. This speeds up the hiring process.

This figure illustrates the retail position setup.

Health Care Industry

The hospital has a structured head count and detailed budgeting. For example, a specific number of surgeons, nurses, and interns of various types are needed. These positions need to be filled in order for the hospital to run smoothly. Use jobs and positions if you need to apply detailed head count rules.

Health care is an industry that needs to regulate employment, roles, and compensation according to strict policies and procedures. Fixed roles tend to endure over time, surviving multiple incumbents. Industries that manage roles rather than individuals, where roles continue to exist after individuals leave, typically model the workforce using positions.

This figure illustrates the hospital position setup.

Jobs: Example

Jobs are typically used without positions by service industries where flexibility and organizational change are key features.

Software Industry

For example, XYZ Corporation has a director over the departments for developers, quality assurance, and technical writers. Recently, three developers have left the company. The director decides to redirect the head count to other areas. Instead of hiring all three back into development, one person is hired to each department, quality assurance, and technical writing.

In software industries, the organization is fluid. Using jobs gives an enterprise the flexibility to determine where to use head count, because the job only exists through the person performing it. In this example, when the three developers leave XYZ Corporation, their jobs no longer exist, therefore the corporation has the flexibility to move the headcount to other areas.

This figure illustrates the software industry job setup.

Job and Position Structures: Explained

Job and position structures identify the descriptive flexfield structure that enables you to specify additional attributes that you want to capture when you define jobs and positions. Job and position attributes provide further detail to make jobs and positions more specific. You also use attributes to define the structure of your jobs and positions. You can specify attributes at the enterprise level for jobs and positions, at the business unit level for positions, and at the reference data set level for jobs. Job and position structures are optional.

Enterprise-Level Job Attributes

When you define a job, you enter a value for the name of the job. To make job names more specific, set up attributes that enable you to identify additional details about the job, such as the nature of the work that is performed or the relative skill level required for the job. If these attributes apply to all jobs within your enterprise, set up enterprise-level job attributes. Standard capabilities mean that you can use the different segments of the name to identify common jobs or job holders for analysis or compensation, or for grouping records in reports, for example, to find all jobs of a specific job type. You should not use attributes with values that change regularly, for example, salary ranges or expense approval levels that change every year.

This figure illustrates how job type and job level provide further details for the HR Application Specialist job.

Enterprise-Level Position Attributes

Position attributes at the enterprise level are similar to those for jobs. Each position that you define identifies a specific role in the enterprise, which you can manage independently of the person in the position, and it will belong to one specific department or organization. The name of each position must be unique. To simplify the process of managing unique names for positions, set up enterprise-level attributes to identify separate components of the position name. For example, you can set up an attribute for position title and one for position number. When defining the attributes that make up the structure of a position name you should also consider if any of your attributes are part of the definition of a common job type. Using job types for a position can help you manage common information that applies to many different positions. For example you can define a job type of Manager.Level 1 and use this for comparison of positions across departments or lines or business, or for setting common job requirements. You can then define multiple manager type positions in your HR department, each of which has responsibility for a different management function or group.

This figure illustrates how title and position number provide further details for the manager position.

Business Unit-Level Attributes for Positions

If you have information that you want to capture for positions that is specific to each business unit, then you can define attributes at the business unit level for positions. When you create positions, these attributes appear in addition to any enterprise-level attributes. For example, you may want to identify the sales region for all positions in the sales business unit. You can set up a text attribute called Sales Region and use it to enter the necessary information when creating positions for the sales business unit.

Reference Data Set-Level Attributes for Jobs

If you have information for jobs that applies to specific reference data sets, set up attributes for jobs at the reference data set level. When you create jobs, these attributes appear in addition to any enterprise-level attributes. For example, you may want to identify all information technology (IT) jobs within a specific set. You can set up a text attribute called Function and use it to enter IT in jobs that you create that perform an IT function within a specific set.

FAQs for Define Initial Configuration

What's an ultimate holding company?

The legal entity that represents the top level in your organization hierarchy, as defined by the legal name entered for the enterprise. This designation is used only to create an organization tree, with the ultimate holding company as the top level, divisions and country holding companies as the second level, and legal employers as the third level.

What's the default reference data set?

The reference data set that is assigned to a business unit for all reference data groups, such as grades, locations, departments, and jobs. You can override the default reference data set for any reference data group.

What happens if I override the set assignment?

For the selected business unit, you can override the default reference data set for one or more reference data groups. For example, assume you have three reference data groups: Vision 1 SET, Vision 2 SET, and Vision 3 SET, where Vision SET 1 is the default set for business unit United Kingdom Vision 1 BU. You can override the default so that grades are assigned to Vision 2 SET, departments are assigned to Vision 3 SET, and jobs are assigned to the default set, Vision 3 SET.

Define Reference Data Sharing

Reference Data Sharing: Explained

Reference data sharing facilitates sharing of configuration data such as jobs and payment terms, across organizational divisions or business units. You define reference data sets and determine how the data is shared or partitioned. Use reference data sets to reduce duplication and maintenance by sharing common data across business entities where appropriate. Depending on the requirement (specific or common), each business unit can maintain its data at a central location, using a set of values either specific to it or shared by other business units.

You can share reference data after it is filtered on the basis of sets. A common reference data set is available as the default set, which can be assigned to several business units sharing the same reference data. For commonly used data such as currencies, you can use the common reference data set and assign it to multiple business units in various countries that use the same currency. In cases where the default set cannot be assigned to an entity, you can create specific sets. The data set visible on the transactional page depends on the sharing method used to share reference data.

For example, XYZ Corporation uses the same grades throughout the entire organization. Instead of managers in different business units setting up the same grades, XYZ Corporation decides to create a set called Grades and assign the grades reference data group for all business units in the organization to the Grades set, so that the grades can be shared.

Reference Data Sets: Explained

Reference data sets are logical groups of reference data that can be accessed by various transactional entities depending on the business context. Oracle Fusion Applications contains a common reference data set as well as an enterprise set that may be used as a default set. Depending on your business requirement you can create and maintain additional reference data sets, while continuing to use the common reference data set.

Consider the following scenario.

Your enterprise can decide that some aspects of corporate policy should affect all business units and leave other aspects to the discretion of the business unit manager. This allows your enterprise to balance autonomy and control for each business unit. For example, if your enterprise holds business unit managers accountable for their profit and loss, but manages working capital requirements at a corporate level, you can let managers define their own sales methods, but define payment terms centrally. In this case, each business unit would have its own reference data set for sales methods, and there would be one central reference data set for payment terms assigned to all business units.

Partitioning

The partitioning of reference data and creation of data sets enable you to create reference entities across tables or lookup types, and share modular information and data processing options among business units. With the help of partitioning, you can choose to create separate sets and subsets for each business unit depending upon its business requirement, or create common sets or subsets to enable sharing reference data between several business units, without the need for duplicating the reference data. Partitioning provides you the flexibility to handle the reference data in a way appropriate to your business needs.

The following figure illustrates the reference data sharing method (assignment to one set only, with common values) where the user can access the data assigned to a specific set in a particular business unit, as well as access the data assigned to the common set.

Reference Data Sets and Sharing Methods: Explained

Oracle Fusion Applications reference data sharing feature is also known as SetID. The reference data sharing functionality supports operations in multiple ledgers, business units, and warehouses, thereby reducing the administrative burden and decreasing the time needed to implement new business units. For example, you can share sales methods, transaction types, or payment terms across business units or selected other data across asset books, cost organizations, or project units.

The reference data sharing features use reference data sets to which reference data is assigned. The reference data sets group assigned reference data. The sets can be understood as buckets of reference data assigned to multiple business units or other application components.

Reference Data Sets

You begin this part of your implementation by creating and assigning reference data to sets. Make changes carefully as changes to a particular set will affect all business units or application components using that set. You can assign a separate set to each business unit for the type of object that is being shared. For example, assign separate sets for payment terms, transaction types, and sales methods to your business units.

Your enterprise can decide that some aspects of corporate policy should affect all business units and leave other aspects to the discretion of the business unit manager. This allows your enterprise to balance autonomy and control for each business unit. For example, if your enterprise holds business unit managers accountable for their profit and loss, but manages working capital requirements at a corporate level, you can let managers define their own sales methods, but define payment terms centrally. In this case, each business unit would have its own reference data set for sales methods, and there would be one central reference data set for payment terms assigned to all business units.

The reference data sharing is especially valuable for lowering the cost of setting up new business units. For example, your enterprise operates in the hospitality industry. You are adding a new business unit to track your new spa services. The hospitality divisional reference data set can be assigned to the new business unit to quickly setup data for this entity component. You can establish other business unit reference data in a business unit specific reference data set as needed

Reference Data Sharing Methods

There are variations in the methods used to share data in reference data sets across different types of objects. The following list identifies the methods:

• Assignment to one set only, no common values allowed. The simplest form of sharing reference data that allows assigning a reference data object instance to one and only one set. For example, Asset Prorate Conventions are defined and assigned to only one reference data set. This set can be shared across multiple asset books, but all the values are contained only in this one set.

• Assignment to one set only, with common values. The most commonly used method of sharing reference data that allows defining reference data object instance across all sets. For example, Receivables Transaction Types are assigned to a common set that is available to all the business units without the need to be explicitly assigned the transaction types to each business unit. In addition, you can assign a business unit specific set of transaction types. At transaction entry, the list of values for transaction types includes transaction types from the set assigned to the business unit, as well as transaction types assigned to the common set that is shared across all business units.

• Assignment to multiple sets, no common values allowed. The method of sharing reference data that allows a reference data object instance to be assigned to multiple sets. For instance, Payables Payment Terms use this method. It means that each payment term can be assigned to one or more than one set. For example, you assign the payment term Net 30 to several sets, but the payment term Net 15 is assigned to only your corporate business unit specific set. At transaction entry, the list of values for payment terms consists of only one set of data; the set that is assigned to the transaction's business unit.

Note: Oracle Fusion Applications contains a reference data set called Enterprise. Define any reference data that affects your entire enterprise in this set.

Assigning Reference Data Sets to Reference Objects: Points to Consider

You can assign the reference data sets to reference objects on the Manage Reference Data Set Assignments page. For multiple assignments, you can classify different types of reference data sets into groups and assign them to reference entity objects. The assignment takes into consideration the determinant type, determinant, and reference group, if any.

Determinant Types

The partitioned reference data is shared based on a business context setting called the determinant type. It is the point of reference used in the data assignment process. The following table lists the determinant types used in the reference data assignment.

Determinant

The determinant or determinant value is the value that corresponds to the selected determinant type. The determinant is one of the criteria for selecting the appropriate reference data set. For example, when managing set assignments for the set determinant type, Reference Data Set is the determinant type, and you would enter the corresponding set code value as the corresponding determinant value.

Reference Groups

A transactional entity may have multiple reference entities (generally considered to be setup data) that are treated in the same manner because of commonness in implementing business policies and legal rules. Such reference entities in your application are grouped into logical units called reference groups, based on the functional area and the partitioning requirements that they have in common. For example, all tables and views that define Sales Order Type details might be part of the same reference group.

Items and Supplier Site Reference Data Sharing: Explained

Some products required special logic for reference data sharing and have implemented their own domain specific ways for sharing data.

Items and supplier sites are two such product specific reference data objects that use product specific mechanisms to share data.

Items

If you share your items across warehouses or manufacturing facilities, you can access them through a common item master. Configure one or multiple item masters for your enterprise, based your enterprise structure. A single item master is recommended because it provides simpler and more efficient maintenance. However, in rare cases, it may be beneficial to keep multiple item masters. For example, if you acquire another enterprise and need to continue to operate your lines of business separately, maintaining a second item master might be the best decision.

Suppliers Sites

You can approve particular suppliers to supply specified commodities and authorize your business units to buy from those suppliers when the need arises. For example, you might be a household cleaning products manufacturer and need dyes, plastics, and perfumes to make your products. You purchase from a central supplier 70% of your perfume supplies with an additional supplier, in reserve, from whom you purchase the remaining 30%. At the same time, each of your business units purchases plastics and dyes from the same supplier, but from different local supplier sites to save transportation costs.

To implement business unit specific supplier sites, Oracle Fusion Procurement supports a method for defining suppliers sites as owned and managed by the business unit responsible for negotiating the supplier terms. Your other business units that have a service provider relationship defined with your procurement business unit, subscribe to the supplier sites using the supplier site assignments feature. In addition, Procurement allows sharing of the following procurement data objects across business units:

• Supplier qualification data, such as approved supplier lists

• Catalog content, such as agreements, smart forms, public shopping lists, and content zones

• Procurement configuration data

FAQs for Define Reference Data Sharing

What reference data objects can be shared across business units?

The following list contains the reference data objects for the Oracle Fusion Applications that can be shared across business units and the method in which the reference data for each is shared.

What reference data objects can be shared across asset books?

The following list contains the reference data objects for Oracle Fusion Assets that can be shared across asset books and the method in which the reference data for each is shared.

What reference data objects can be shared across cost organizations?

The following list contains the reference data objects for Oracle Fusion Cost Management that can be shared across cost organizations and the method in which the reference data for each is shared.

What reference data objects can be shared across project units?

The following list contains the reference data objects for Oracle Fusion Project Foundation that can be shared across project units and the method in which the reference data for each is shared.

Define Geographies

Defining Address Cleansing: Explained

Address cleansing provides a way to validate, correct, and standardize addresses that are entered in a user interface. Geography validation only validates the geography attributes of an address, for example, State, City, and Postal codes; address cleansing validates both the geography attributes and the address line attributes.

Address cleansing can only be used through the Oracle Fusion Trading Community Data Quality product, because the feature is delivered using Data Quality integration. You need to ensure that you have a license for the countries that will use Trading Community Data Quality data cleansing.

You can specify the real time address cleansing level for each country by choosing either None, meaning that there is no real time address cleansing, or by choosing Optional, meaning that you will have the choice to cleanse addresses. Once you have enabled address cleansing for a country a Verify Address icon appears at address entry points in the application. You can then click the icon to perform address cleansing and receive a corrected, standardized address. If Trading Community Data Quality does not find a matching address the application will alert you.

Geography Structure, Hierarchy, and Validation: How They Fit Together

There are three components that are dependent on each other when defining a country: geography structure, geography hierarchy, and geography validation. Every country has to have the geography structure defined first before the hierarchy can be defined, and the geography hierarchy has to be defined before the validation can be defined.

Geography Structure

Firstly, you need to create a geography structure for each country to define which geography types are part of the country structure, and how the geography types are hierarchically related within the country structure. For example, you can create geography types called State, City, and Postal Code. Then you can rank the State geography type as the highest level within the country, the City as the second level, and the Postal Code as the lowest level within the country structure. Geography structure can be defined using the Manage Geographies task, or can be imported using tasks in the Define Geographies activity.

Geography Hierarchy

Once the geography structure is defined, the geographies for each geography type can be added to the hierarchy. For example, below the United States you can create a geography called California using a State geography type.

As part of managing the geography hierarchy you can view, create, edit, and delete the geographies for each geography type in the country structure. You can also add a primary and alternate name and code for each geography. A geography hierarchy can be created using the Manage Geographies task, or can be imported using tasks in the Define Geographies activity.

Geography Validation

After defining the geography hierarchy, you need to specify the geography validations for the country. You can choose which address style formats you would like to use for the country, and for each selected address style format you can map geography types to address attributes. You can also select which geography types should be included in geography or tax validation, and which geography types will display in a list of values during address entry in other user interfaces. The geography validation level for the country, such as error or warning, can also be selected.

Geography Structures: Explained

A geography structure is a hierarchical grouping of geography types for a country. For example, the geography structure for the United States is the geography type of State at the top, then followed by the County, then the City, and finally the Postal Code.

You can use the geography structure to establish:

• How geographies can be related

• The types of geographies you can define for the country

How Geographies Can Be Related

You can determine how a country's geographies are hierarchically related by creating the hierarchy of the geography types in the geography structure. When you define a country's structure the country geography type is implicitly at the top of the geography structure, and the numbering of the subsequent levels start with 1 as the next geography level after country.

You must add a geography type as a level in the country structure before you can define a geography for that geography type in a country. For example, before defining the state of California, the State geography type must be added to the United States country structure. Only one geography type can be used for each level, you cannot define more than one geography type at the same level.

To simplify the creation of a country structure you can copy a structure from another country, and then amend the geography type hierarchy for the country.

The Types of Geographies You Can Define for the Country

The application provides you with a set of available master reference geography types. If required, you can create a geography type before adding it to the country structure. Each geography type is added below the current lowest level.

A geography type that you create within the country structure can be used for other country structures as well.

Geography Hierarchy: Explained

Geography hierarchy is a data model that lets you establish conceptual parent-child relationships between geographies. A geography, such as Tokyo or Peru, describes a boundary on the surface of the earth. The application can extrapolate information based on this network of hierarchical geographical relationships.

For example, in the geography hierarchy the state of California is defined as the parent of San Mateo county, which is the parent of Redwood City, which is the parent of the postal code 94065. If you enter just 94065, the application can determine that the postal code is in California, or that the corresponding city is Redwood City.

The application leverages geography hierarchy information to facilitate business processes that rely on geography information, for example, tax calculation, order sourcing rules, sales territory definition. The geography hierarchy information is centrally located in the Trading Community Model and shared among other application offerings.

The top level of the geography hierarchy is Country, so the hierarchy essentially contains countries and their child geographies. Other aspects of the geography hierarchy include:

• Geography

• Geography type

• Geography usage

• Master reference geography hierarchy

• User defined zones

Geography

A geography is a boundary such as a country, state, province or city. It is a physical space with boundaries that is a defined instance of a geography type. For example, San Jose is a geography of the City geography type.

Geography Type

Geography types are a divisional grouping of geographies, which can be either geopolitical (for example, City, Province, and District) or user defined (for example, Continent, Country Regions, Tax Regions).

Geography Usage

Geography usage indicates how a geography type or geography is used in the application. A master reference geography always has the usage of Master Reference. User defined zones can have the usages of Tax, Shipping, or Territory, based on what is relevant for their purpose.

Master Reference Geography Hierarchy

The geography hierarchy data is considered to be the single source of truth for geographies. It is all the data, including geography types and geographies, that you define and maintain in the Trading Community Model tables.

The geography usage for the entire hierarchy is the master reference, and defined geography types and geographies are considered as master reference geography types and geographies. For example, Country is a universally recognized geography type, and United States is considered a master geography.

User Defined Zones

User defined zones are a collection of geographical data, created from master reference data for a specific purpose. For example, territory zones are collections of master reference geographies ordered in a hierarchy. Tax and shipping zones are collections of master reference geographies without a hierarchical grouping.

Geography Validation: Explained

Geography validation determines the geography mapping and validation for a country's address styles, as well as the overall geography validation control for a country.

The No Styles Format address style format is the default address style format for a country. By defining the mapping and validation for this format you will ensure that validations can be performed for any address in the country. After the No Styles Format is defined you can set up additional mapping for specific address styles.

For each address style format, you can define the following:

• Map to attribute

• Enable list of values

• Tax validation

• Geography validation

• Geography validation control

Map to Attribute

For every address style format, you can map each geography type to an address attribute. For example, you can map the State geography type to the State address attribute for the United States, or map the State geography type to the County address attribute for the United Kingdom. The geography types that appear are based on how the country structure is defined. The list of address attributes that appear are based on address formats delivered with the application, or your customer defined address formats.

Enable List of Values

Once a geography type is mapped to an attribute, then you can specify whether the geography type will appear in a list of values during address entry in user interfaces. It is very important to review carefully if you want to enable a list of values. You should only enable a list of values if you have sufficient geography data imported or created for that geography. Once you have enabled a list of values for an address attribute, you can only select the geography data available for the geography type. This means that if a specific geography value is not available in the geography hierarchy, you cannot create an address with a different geography value.

Tax Validation

You can also specify whether a geography type will be included in tax validation. For example, for the United States North America address style format you specify that County, State, and City are used for tax validation. This will mean that when a transaction involves an address with the North America address style, the address must have the correct county, state, and city combination based on the geography hierarchy data, to be considered valid for tax calculation.

Geography Validation

You can specify whether a geography type will be included in geography validation. This will mean that, for example, when the user enters a United States address using the North America address style format, the address must have the correct country, state, and postal code combination based on geography hierarchy data to be considered geographically valid.

If an address element is mapped to a geography type, but not selected for geography validation usage, then during address entry suggested values will be provided for the address element, but the address element will not be validated.

Geography Validation Control

You can select the geography validation level for a country. Validation will check if the entered address maps to the geography hierarchy data available for the country, and the geography validation control determines whether you can save an address that did not pass validation during address entry. For example, if the validation level is Error, then an address cannot be saved if the values do not match the geography hierarchy data.

These are the geography validation levels you can choose:

• Error - only completely valid addresses can be saved, with all mandatory address elements entered.

• No Validation - all addresses can be saved including incomplete and invalid addresses.

Regardless of the result of validation, the validation process will try to map any address attribute to a geography of the country, and store any mapping it could establish based on the available data. This is called Geography Name Referencing and it is executed as part of validation. The result of this referencing is used in several business processes in the application to map an address to a specific geography or zone.

Importing Geographies: Explained

A geography, such as Tokyo or Peru, describes a boundary on the surface of the earth. You can create new geographies by importing data through interface tables. There are two options for populating the interface tables: using the tool of your preference to load the data or using file-based data import. If you plan to provide the data details in a source file, use the file-based import feature. If you will populate the interface table directly, run the geography loader process to import the data. Having a good understanding of the import entity, interface table, and destination table will help you prepare your import data.

Consider the following when importing geographies:

• File-based import option

• Geography loader process option

• Import object entity, interface table, and destination tables

File-Based Import Option

The file-based import process reads the data included in your XML or text file, populates the interface tables, and imports the data into the application destination tables. The File-Based Data Import Setup and Maintenance task list includes the tasks needed to configure the geography import object, create source file mappings, and schedule the import activities.

Geography Loader Process Option

Populate the interface table with your import data, then navigate to the Run Geography Loader Setup and Maintenance task to schedule the import of data from the interface table to the destination table.

Import Object Entity, Interface Table, and Destination Tables

The geography import object consists of one entity and interface table that forms the geography. If you are using file-based import, you can map your source file data to import entity attributes that correspond to the interface table columns. The import activity process populates the interface table based on the mapping and your source file. If using the geography loader scheduled process, populate the interface table directly using your preferred tool. If you need the unique IDs of existing application data for your import data, use the Define Data Export Setup and Maintenance task list to export the information.

The following lists the object entity, tables, and resulting application object:

Importing Geographies Using File-based Data Import: Worked Example

This example demonstrates how to import data using the File-Based Data Import tool. In this particular example you have a source file containing geography data that you want to import into the application, so that the geography data can be used for uses related to locations, such as real time address validation and tax purposes.

The following table summarizes the key decisions for this scenario:

Summary of the Tasks

These are the steps that are required to create an import activity and submit the import:

1. Determine what information is in the source file.

2. Create and schedule the import activity.

3. Monitor the import results.

Prerequisites when importing additional geography data after your initial import

1. You need to ensure that the combination of Source ID and Parent Source ID values are unique for each row of data within a single import. However, your source data files do not need to have the same Source ID and Parent Source ID values as your previously imported geography data. If the geography structure levels and the parents for each geography value are the same, the changed IDs will not affect the import.
2. Ensure that all of the parents of a child geography are included in your data file so that the child geography can be added. For example, if you originally imported US, CA, and San Francisco, and now you want to import the city of San Jose in CA, then your data file needs to include US, CA, and San Jose.
3. Check that your source data file has the correct values for the geography data that you have already loaded. For example, if your initial import included the value US for country and CA as state, and in a subsequent import you have California as a state, your geography import will result in two state records (CA and California) in the application data, with the US as the country parent.

Determine what information is in the source file

1. Your source geography data files should include a unique Source ID value for each row of data, and a Parent Source ID value which identifies the parent of that row of geography data. Source IDs, or Parent Source IDs, should not exceed 18 characters. An example of geography source data could be as follows:
   

   Geography Level	Name	Source ID	Parent Source ID
   1 (Country)	US	1
   2 (State)	CA	11	1
   3 (County)	Alameda	111	11
   4 (City)	Pleasanton	1111	111
   4 (City)	Dublin	1112	111

Create and schedule the import activity

You create an import activity, enter the import details, and schedule the import. An import activity definition provides the instructions for the import processing - this includes selecting the source file, or file location; mapping fields from the source file to the Oracle Fusion object and attribute; and scheduling the import.

1. Navigate to Setup and Maintenance and search for the Manage File Import Activities task. Click Go to Task.
2. In the Manage Import Activities page, click the Create icon.
3. In the Create Import Activity: Set Up page, create an import activity for the Geography object type by completing the fields, as shown in this table:

   Field	Value
   Name	Master Reference Geographies
   Object	Geography
   File Type	Text File
   File Selection	Specific file
   Upload From	Desktop
   File Name	Choose relevant file from desktop
   Data Type	Comma separated

   
   

   Note

   Ensure that the file type that you select in the Create Import Activity: Set Up page matches the file type of the source data file.

4. Click Next.
5. On the Create Import Activity: Map Fields page, map each field from your source file to the Oracle Fusion object and attribute, as shown in this example:
   

   Column Header	Example Value	Ignore	Object	Attribute
   Primary Geography Name	Primary Geography Name	United States	Imp Geography	Primary Geography Name
   Country Code	US	No	Imp Geography	Country Code
   Record Type Code	0	Yes	Imp Geography	Record Type Code
   Source ID	10265	No	Imp Geography	Source ID
   Parent Source ID	1053	No	Imp Geography	Parent Source ID

   If you do not want to import a column in the text file you can select Ignore.

   Note

   If you have any difficulties mapping the fields from your source file to the relevant Oracle Fusion applications object, you can use the import object spreadsheets for reference.

6. Click Next.
7. On the Create Import Activity: Create Schedule page, select Immediate in the Schedule field so that the import will start immediately.

   Instead of immediately importing the data, you can choose a date and time to start the import. You can also specify if the import will be repeated, and the frequency of the repeated import.

8. Click Next.

Monitor the import results

You monitor the progress of the Import Activity processing, and view completion reports for both successful records and errors.

1. On the Create Import Activity: Review and Activate page, you verify your import details in the Import Details, File Details, Import Options, and Schedule sections.
2. Your import details are correct so you click Activate to submit the import.

   Once the import activity has completed, the Status field value will change to Completed.

Importing and Exporting Territory Geography Zones: Explained

Territory geography zones are geographical boundaries that you can set up to replicate your organization's regions, such as a Pacific Northwest sales region.You can set up territory geography zones in one Oracle Fusion applications instance, and then after the territory geography zones are defined you can export the territory zones and import them into another Oracle Fusion applications instance.

To define your territory geography zones and then import your territory zones into another Oracle Fusion applications instance, you need to complete the following steps:

1. Import the master reference geography data into the Oracle Fusion application.

2. Define your territory geography zones using the Manage Territory Geographies task.

3. Export the territory geography zones.

4. Import the territory geography zones into another Oracle Fusion applications instance.

Import the master reference geography data

Firstly, you need to import the master reference geography data. Master reference geography data consists of geography elements such as country, state, and city, and is required for any geographical information you store in the application, such as address information used in customer and sales records. For more information, refer to the Geography Hierarchy: Explained topic listed in the related topics section. Master reference geography data can be imported into the application using the Manage File Import Activities task in Setup and Maintenance - refer to the Importing Master Reference Geography Data: Worked Example topic listed in the related topics section for more information.

Define your territory geography zones

Once the master reference geography data has been imported, you can then create your territory geography zones in the application using the Manage Territory Geographies task in Setup and Maintenance. For more information, refer to the Managing Territory Geographies: Worked Example topic listed in the related topics section.

Export the territory geography zones

Once you have completed importing the master reference geography data and defining your territory geography zone tasks, you can create a configuration package to export the territory zone data. For more information, refer to the Exporting Setup Data demo listed in the related topics section.

Import the territory geography zones

Once you have downloaded your configuration package for your territory geography zone setup, you can import the territory zones into another Oracle Fusion application instance. For more information, refer to the Importing Setup Data listed in the related topics section.

Managing Geography Structures, Hierarchies, and Validation: Worked Example

This example shows how to start the configuration of the geography structure, hierarchy, and validation for the country geography of the United Kingdom.

The following table summarizes the key decisions for this scenario.

Add the County and Post Town geography types to the geography structure. Then add the geographies for the County and Post Town geography types to define the geography hierarchy. Finally, specify the geography validations for the geography types you have added to the geography structure.

Defining the geography structure

You add the County and Post Town geography types to the United Kingdom geography structure.

1. On the Manage Geographies page, enter GB in the Code field. Click Search.
2. On the Manage Geographies page, click Structure Defined.
3. On the Manage Geography Structure page, click the Create button next to the Copy Country Structure From field.
4. In the Geography Structure section, select the County list item in the Add Geography Type field.
5. Click Add.
6. Select the Post Town list item in the Add Geography Type field.
7. Click Add.

Defining the geography hierarchy

You want to begin to create the geography hierarchy for the United Kingdom, so you add the geographies for the County and Post Town geography types using the geography hierarchy User Interfaces. You can also use the Manage File Import Activities task to import geography hierarchies using a csv or xml file.

1. On the Manage Geographies page, enter GB in the Code field. Click Search.
2. On the Manage Geographies page, click Hierarchy Defined.
3. On the Manage Geography Hierarchy page, Geography Hierarchy section, click the United Kingdom to highlight the table row.
4. Click the Create button.
5. In the Create County page, Primary and Alternate Names section, enter Berkshire in the Name field.
6. Click Save and Close.
7. On the Manage Geography Hierarchy page, Geography Hierarchy section, click Berkshire to highlight the table row.
8. Click the Create button.
9. In the Create Post Town page, Primary and Alternate Names section, enter Reading in the Name field.
10. Click Save and Close.

Defining the geography validations

Now you want to specify the geography validations for the geography types you have added to the United Kingdom. You define the geography mapping and validation for the United Kingdom default address style format. You map the geography types to attributes, enable the geography types for Lists of Values and Geography validation, and set the geography validation level.

1. On the Manage Geographies page, click Validation Defined.
2. On the Manage Geography Validation page, Address Style section, click No Styles Format to highlight the table row.
3. For the County geography type, click the County list item in the Map to Attribute field.
4. Click the Enable List of Values option for the County geography type.
5. Click the Geography Validation option for the County geography type.
6. For the Post Town geography type, click the City list item in the Map to Attribute field.
7. Click the Geography Validation option for the Post Town geography type.
8. In the Geography Validation Control section, click the Error list item in the Geography Validation Level for Country field.
9. Click Save and Close.

FAQs for Define Geographies

When do I define address cleansing?

When address data entered into the application needs to conform to a particular format, in order to achieve consistency in the representation of addresses. For example, making sure that the incoming data is stored following the correct postal address format.

Why can't I update a geography structure by copying an existing country structure?

You can only update a geography structure by adding existing geography types, or by creating new geography types and then adding them to the geography structure. You can only copy an existing country structure when you are defining a new country structure.

Why can't I delete a level of the country geography structure?

If a geography exists for a country geography structure level then you cannot delete the level. For example, if a state geography has been created for the United States country geography structure, then the State level cannot be deleted in the country geography structure.

Can I add any geography to the geography hierarchy?

Yes. However, the geography type for the geography that you want to add must be already added to the country geography structure.

Can I edit a specific geography in the geography hierarchy?

Yes. In the Manage Geography Hierarchy page you can edit details such as the geography's date range, primary and alternate names and codes, and parent geographies.

How can I add a geography that is the level below another geography in a geography hierarchy?

Select the geography that you want your geography to be created below, and then click the Create icon. This will allow you to create a geography for a geography type that is the level below the geography type you selected. The structure of the country's geography types are defined in the Manage Geography Structure page.

Define Enterprise for Order Orchestration: Manage Enterprise HCM Information

Enterprise: Explained

An enterprise consists of legal entities under common control and management.

Enterprise Defined

When implementing Oracle Fusion Applications you operate within the context of an enterprise that has already been created in the application for you. This is either a predefined enterprise or an enterprise that has been created in the application by a system administrator.

An enterprise organization captures the name of the deploying enterprise and the location of the headquarters. There is normally a single enterprise organization in a production environment. Multiple enterprises are defined when the system is used to administer multiple customer companies, for example, multiple tenants, or when a customer chooses to set up additional enterprises for testing or development.

Oracle Fusion Applications offers capabilities for multiple tenants to share the same applications instance for some human resources processes. If you offer business process outsourcing services to a set of clients, each of those clients may be represented as an enterprise within an Oracle Fusion Application instance. To support this functionality, system owned reference data such as sequences, sets, and flexfields are also defined within an enterprise.

In Oracle Fusion Applications, an organization classified as an enterprise is defined before defining any other organizations in the HCM Common Organization Model. All other organizations are defined as belonging to an enterprise.

Managing Enterprise Information for Non-Oracle Fusion HCM Users: Explained

The Manage Enterprise HCM Information task includes default settings for your enterprise such as the employment model, worker number generation, and so on. If you are not implementing Oracle Fusion Human Capital Management (HCM), then the only action you may need to perform using this task is to change the enterprise name, if necessary. The other settings are HCM-specific and are not relevant outside of Oracle Fusion HCM.

Define Enterprise for Order Orchestration: Manage Locations

Locations: Explained

A location identifies physical addresses of a workforce structure, such as a department or a job. You can also create locations to enter the addresses of external organizations that you want to maintain, such as employment agencies, tax authorities, and insurance or benefits carriers.

The locations that you create exist as separate structures that you can use for reporting purposes, and also in rules that determine employee eligibility for various types of compensation and benefits. You enter information about a location only once. Subsequently, when you set up other workforce structures you select the location from a list.

Location Sets

When you create a location, you must associate it with a set. Only those users who have access to the set's business unit can access the location set and other associated workforce structure sets, such as those that contain departments and jobs.

You can also associate the location to the common set so that users across your enterprise can access the location irrespective of their business unit. When users search for locations, they can see the locations that they have access to along with the locations in the common set.

The following figure shows how locations sets restrict access to users.

Creating Multiple Locations Simultaneously

If you have a list of locations already defined for your enterprise, you can upload them from a spreadsheet. To use this option, you first download a spreadsheet template, then add your location information to the spreadsheet, and then upload directly to your enterprise configuration. You can upload the spreadsheet multiple times to accommodate revisions.

FAQs for Define Enterprise for Order Orchestration: Manage Locations

Why can't I see my location in the search results?

You can search for approved locations only. Also, if you created a location in Oracle Fusion Trading Community Model, then you can't access that location from Oracle Fusion Global Human Resources. For use in Oracle Fusion HCM, you must recreate the location from the Manage Locations page.

What happens if I select a geographic hierarchy node when I'm creating or editing a location?

The calendar events that were created for the geographical node start to apply for the location and may impact the availability of worker assignments at that location. The geographical hierarchy nodes available for selection on the Locations page display from a predefined geographic hierarchy.

What happens if I select an inventory organization when I'm creating or editing a location?

The location is available for selection in purchase documents of that inventory organization in Oracle Fusion Inventory Management. If you don't select an inventory organization, then the location is available in purchase documents across all inventory organizations.

What happens if I inactivate a location?

Starting from the effective date that you entered, you can no longer associate the location with other workforce structures, assignments, or applications. If the location is already in use, it will continue to be available to the components that currently use it.

How can I associate a location with an inventory organization?

From the Manage Locations page in Oracle Fusion Global Human Resources.

To appear on the Create or Edit Location pages, your inventory organization must be effective on today's date and must exist in the location set that you selected.

Define Business Units: Manage Business Units

Business Units: Explained

A business unit is a unit of an enterprise that performs one or many business functions that can be rolled up in a management hierarchy. A business unit can process transactions on behalf of many legal entities. Normally, it will have a manager, strategic objectives, a level of autonomy, and responsibility for its profit and loss. Roll business units up into divisions if you structure your chart of accounts with this type of hierarchy. In Oracle Fusion Applications, you assign your business units to one primary ledger. For example, if a business unit is processing payables invoices they will need to post to a particular ledger. This assignment is mandatory for your business units with business functions that produce financial transactions.

In Oracle Fusion Applications, use business unit as a securing mechanism for transactions. For example, if you run your export business separately from your domestic sales business, secure the export business data to prevent access by the domestic sales employees. To accomplish this security, set up the export business and domestic sales business as two separate business units.

The Oracle Fusion Applications business unit model:

• Allows for flexible implementation

• Provides a consistent entity for controlling and reporting on transactions

• Anchors the sharing of sets of reference data across applications

Business units process transactions using reference data sets that reflect your business rules and policies and can differ from country to country. With Oracle Fusion Application functionality, you can choose to share reference data, such as payment terms and transaction types, across business units, or you can choose to have each business unit manage its own set depending on the level at which you wish to enforce common policies.

In countries where gapless and chronological sequencing of documents is required for subledger transactions, define your business units in alignment with your ledger definition, because the uniqueness of sequencing is only ensured within a ledger. In these cases, define a single ledger and assign one legal entity and business unit.

In summary, use business units in the following ways:

• Management reporting

• Processing of transactions

• Security of transactional data

• Reference data definition and sharing

Brief Overview of Business Unit Security

Business units are used by a number of Oracle Fusion Applications to implement data security. You assign data roles to your users to give them access to data in business units and permit them to perform specific functions on this data. When a business function is enabled for a business unit, the application can trigger the creation of data roles for this business unit based on the business function's related job roles.

For example, if a payables invoicing business function is enabled, then it is clear that there are employees in this business unit that perform the function of payables invoicing, and need access to the payables invoicing functionality. Therefore, based on the correspondence between the business function and the job roles, appropriate data roles are generated automatically. Use Human Capital Management (HCM) security profiles to administer security for employees in business units.

Define Facilities for Order Orchestration

Item Organization: Explained

An item organization defines an item when inventory balances are not stored and inventory storage or inventory movement is not reflected in the Oracle Fusion Applications. For example, you would use an item organization in a retail scenario, if you need to know the items that are listed by and sold through each retail outlet even though inventory and transactions are recorded in another system. In Oracle Fusion Customer Relationship Management (CRM), item organizations are used to define sales catalogs.

Item Master Organization: Explained

An item master organization lists and describes items that are shared across several inventory organizations or item organization.

The following example shows the choice between inventory organizations that track inventory transactions, stored in two warehouses, and item organizations that just track items, listed in two sales catalogs.

For the most efficient processing, you should:

• Have a single item master

• Include an item and its definition of form, fit, and function only once in the item master

• Separate the item master organization from organizations that store and transact items

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